Rupa Huq’s research while affiliated with Kingston University and other places

Presenting a new approach to the study of youth culture and popular music, Beyond Subculture re-examines the link between music and subcultures and asks the question; in an ageing world, can pop music still be an automatic metaphor for youth culture? Using case studies and first-hand interviews with consumer and producers including Noel Gallagher and Talvin Singh, Rupa Huq investigates a series of musically-centred global youth cultures including hip-hop, electronic dance music and bhangra. With 'Generation X' becoming an increasingly redundant term, this book will help students redefine their ideas of youth culture and will be an invaluable addition to their studies.

This article looks at the youth musical cultures of bhangra and Asian underground alongside wider societal shifts relating to British Asian youth in recent decades. The article first examines previous youth studies research, primary media source material and data from qualitative interviews; it then looks at these twin hybrid musically expressive forms fusing Indian instrumentation and fashion which have been principally produced by second-generation British-born youth of Asian origin - a group who have hitherto not been particularly noteworthy in either UK pop lore or youth studies. The data presented in the main body of the article are based on a number of semi-structured interviews in which the subjects’ own discursive framing of, and qualitative reasons for, their actions and reactions to events and cultural products are given. The fieldwork was carried out at various bhangra and Asian underground musical events in London and Manchester, allowing a longitudinal picture to develop of British Asian music and its place in the representations and realities of Asian youth.